SOMM Recordings is delighted to announce the label debut of composer-conductor Nimrod Borenstein with first recordings of three works showcasing the piano in separate guises: his Piano Concerto, piano quintet Light and Darkness, and Shirim for solo piano. Borenstein himself conducts pianist Clelia Iruzun and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in his Piano Concerto, while Iruzun is joined by I Musicanti on Light and Darkness, and is the soloist for Shirim. For Borenstein, who also provides booklet notes, the disc is a dual celebration: 'of the piano, an instrument I love', and of 'musical friendship', recognising his long creative partnership with Iruzun. The three-movement Piano Concerto – his Op.91 and first for the instrument, building on discoveries from his continuing series of Chopininfluenced solo etudes – was composed for Iruzun and premiered in Brazil in July 2022. It reflects Borenstein’s concept of 'the concerto as an heroic form', a notion informing its 'very fast, virtuosic and full of energy' finale. 2021’s Shirim (Op.94) takes its title from the Hebrew word for 'poems' or 'songs'. Cast in 18 variegated miniatures, 'each being a world in themselves', they are, says Borenstein tributing Mendelssohn, 'my own songs without words'. Light and Darkness (2018, Op.80), 'begins and ends with pure light, but is full of melancholy, and contains sections of great despair'.